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How the Desert Can Make a Human Soul Jump with Joy.

Exequiel Ezcurra, once a political refugee from Argentina’s Chaco drylands, now one of the best known and beloved biodiversity scientists in the world reminds us of is, how the sight and smell of certain desert plants or animals can make a human soul jump with joy:

“Mexico, a generous country with extraordinarily creative and big-hearted people, opened its doors to me. But the nostalgia for the desert haunted me in the chaos of Mexico City until I visited the Sonoran Desert and saw, with tears in my eyes, similar mesquites, the same creosote bushes, and the same smell of wet dirt when summer thunderstorms arrive.”

“So I decided that I would be a desert ecologist and study the drylands of Mexico. The rest is simply resume… [but] the true force behind my work was really a nostalgia for the desert, the juicy pulp of cactus fruits, and the smell of creosote bushes.”

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